Genealogy software
Why you should keep your own tree offline as well as online, the main desktop programs for Windows and Mac, GEDCOM, syncing with Ancestry and FamilySearch, and free options.
An online tree is convenient; a tree in a program on your own computer is yours. Sites change their terms, subscriptions lapse and companies get sold, but a file on your hard drive and in your backups survives all of it. Most experienced researchers keep both: the desktop program as the master, an online copy for hints and cousin contact.
What a genealogy program does
- Stores people, relationships, events (birth, baptism, marriage, census…), places and notes.
- Attaches sources to every fact and formats citations, so you always know where a fact came from.
- Attaches scans, photographs and documents to the people they belong to.
- Prints pedigree, descendant, family group and fan charts, and narrative reports.
- Checks for problems: a child born before the mother, a marriage after a death, duplicate people.
- Exports and imports GEDCOM, the standard exchange format every program and site understands.
The main programs
| Family Tree Maker | Windows and Mac. The one that syncs two-way with an Ancestry tree, with hints from Ancestry and FamilySearch inside the program. Paid, with periodic upgrades. The natural choice for Ancestry users. |
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| RootsMagic | Windows and Mac. Syncs with Ancestry and FamilySearch, strong on sources and reports, and a free "Essentials" version with the basics. Popular with methodical researchers. |
| Legacy Family Tree | Windows. Long-established, thorough source handling, a free standard edition and a paid deluxe one. FamilySearch integration. |
| Family Historian | Windows, British-made, with a flexible diagram editor and excellent handling of British record conventions. Paid, one-off. |
| Gramps | Free and open source, Windows, Mac and Linux. Powerful and a little technical; favoured by people who want control and no vendor. |
| MacFamilyTree / Reunion | Mac-native options with polished charts; Reunion is the long-running professional favourite on Mac. |
Prices range from free to around £50 to £80 for a paid program, usually a one-off purchase. All of them import a GEDCOM from an online tree, so you can try several with your existing data.
GEDCOM: the lingua franca
GEDCOM is a plain-text format for exchanging trees. Export one from your online tree, import it into any program; export from the program to upload elsewhere. It carries people, events, sources and notes, though media files travel separately and some program-specific features don't survive the trip. Export a GEDCOM regularly as a backup even if you never change programs.
Online trees
Ancestry, Findmypast, MyHeritage and FamilySearch all host trees. The first three are private to you (and optionally to people you invite) and generate record hints from their own collections; FamilySearch's is a single shared world tree that anyone can edit, which makes it a research aid rather than a place to keep your own conclusions. Online trees are good for hints and for being found by cousins; keep the master copy offline.
Choosing
- If you use Ancestry heavily: Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic for the sync.
- If you want free and complete: Gramps, or the free editions of RootsMagic or Legacy.
- If you're on a Mac: MacFamilyTree, Reunion, or the Mac versions of FTM or RootsMagic.
- If citing sources properly matters to you (it should): any of them, but RootsMagic, Legacy and Family Historian make it easiest.
Habits that pay off
Enter a source for every fact as you go, not later. Use consistent place names (the program's place list helps). Attach the scan of the record, not just the transcription. Back up the data file to at least two places, one off-site. The organising guide covers the filing that goes with it, and the charts guide explains the printed charts the programs produce.